I now have the privilege of uploading videos to YouTube that are longer than 15 minutes. I am guessing that I have passed a certain number of uploads and maintained a positive status with You Tube. So basically I have not uploaded any iphone videos of a Bruins broadcast or anything like that. I did recently post a series of videos on You Tube giving a basic overview of the OPT Model over the course of five videos. Visit my YouTube channel if you want to see them http://youtube.com/theericbeard. You probably notice that I have been investing my time outside of my blog lately I logged in last week to post and spent an hour fixing the typos in my last post. Sheesjh! What a stinker! My apologies for letting that go out. The content was good but what a mess! So that is fit for public consumption and worth a peak when you have time

More importantly is that I uploaded an entire DVD of mine to You Tube. It is finishing processing right now. The DVD is actually the prologue installment for my DVD series Secrets and Staples of Training the Athletic Shoulder. (of course available at http://athleticshoulder.com ) it is 54 minutes long and has some greta stuff in it if I do say so myself. Please watch it and let me know what you think! I am confident that you will find it helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
CEO A-Team
Corrective Exercise Specialist
AthleticShoulder.com
http://facebook.com/theericbeard
http://youtube.com/theericbeard

• September 14, 2009 -- Secrets of Training the Athletic Shoulder: Corner Activatons from AthleticShoulder.com (0)
• September 8, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise and Performance Enhancement for The Shoulder Complex Has Evolved (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)
• January 31, 2010 -- FLY This-Eric Beard Shows a Cool Variation for Core Stability plus Another Fitness Challenge (1)
• June 26, 2012 -- Tuesday Night Tips: Protraction, Retraction and Levator Scapulae? (0)

Eric Beard

CEO A-Team

Corrective Exercise Specialist

AthleticShoulder.com
RangeOfMotionWorkshop.com

• February 26, 2010 -- First Month of Another Fitness Challenge Brings Eric Beard Some Results (1)
• February 24, 2010 -- Another Fitness Challenge Update on Ankle Mobility of Eric Beard (0)
• February 9, 2010 -- 5 Minute Core Stability / Corrective Exercise for Back Pain by Eric Beard with the MECA Back (0)
• March 19, 2010 -- Active Heel Slides for Deep Core Stabilizers and Psoas Inhibition: Corrective Exercise (0)
• January 7, 2010 -- Range of Motion Workshop and DVD, Goniometry for Personal Trainers and Corrective Exercise Specialists (0)

This is pretty much how things are going. Feel free to believe in creationism or evolution, that is not my place to decide for you. However, I don’t think anyone will debate the fact that we are becoming more sedentary as we become more attached to our technology (as I type from my lap top…)

(not a self portrait…)

We move less and sit more, we have become a flexion addicted society and it is getting worse. Even movement therapy like Yoga, that has been around for thousands of years, is leading to low back and sacro-illiac injuries because people are so out of shape and deconditioned. Now when I say deconditioned, I do not necessarily mean overweight. I mean they have poor posture, muscular imbalances or poor neuromuscualr control.

I mean they bring this to the golf course…

and they look like this…

and then they need this…

Whether you are looking at weightlifting or athletics, your load bearing joints must be aligned. This allows the joints to move correctly (sparing the cartilage and ligaments), muscles to do their jobs (to produce, reduce and stabilize force) and the nervous system to coordinate the entire human movement system. When that happens, you can groove movement patterns in athletics with the help of coaches and pros to look like this…

and this…

Who will drive the ball further? Feel fresher on the back 9? Feel good enough to play back to back days?

There is more than skill or a fancy putter involved. The alignment and function of the human movement system is a must!
Driving your car with the front end out of alignment to and from the grocery store a few times is not a big deal, but what will happen if you leave it like that for a few years? Would you take it on the highway and drive 80 mph??? If your car were out of alignment, would you; waste fuel? Be less efficient? Be less safe? Have a decrease in performance and burn through tires???

You would get your front end aligned and slap some new tires on there and look out for pot holes and curbs, wouldn’t you?

But do we do that with your bodies?

More often than not the journey looks like this…

Corrective exercise; stretching and strengthening SPECIFIC muscles in a periodized manner, grooving quality movement patterns and practicing correct preparation and recovery techniques on a regular basis can help. Remember to look at the position that you sleep in, how you sit at work, how you sit when you eat, the shoes you wear, how you sit in your vehicle etc. It is a non stop process to keep our amazing machinery running optimally.

You would not expect our car to run properly after ignoring the oil change and engine light for 5 years. Why do we think our body will be okay?

If you are not sure what you should be doing to minimize risk of injury and maximize your return on effort from exercise and enhance athletic performance then find a corrective exercise specialist and athletic performance enhancement specialist to help you out.

Thanks for reading, sit up tall! Do your CEx and go like heck!!!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• April 19, 2011 -- Full Length DVD Content FREE Here! Corrective Exercise and More! (0)
• October 21, 2008 -- Shoulder Injuries Galore (0)
• December 5, 2008 -- Does Your Shoulder Move Like This? (0)
• March 30, 2009 -- ACSM Summit: Corrective Exercise for the Shoulder, Fun, Networking and More! (2)
• November 23, 2008 -- How Do You Think His Shoulder Feels After He Plays Tennis? (0)

Read the text…”An Introduction to Core Stability”…an introduction??? how is standing on the ball an introduction? Maybe this wins style points and get a consumer to purchase something, but this is the message that many coaches and trainer have been fighting against for years. Quality before quantity! Master the simple then move to the complex! Ask any computer programmer ad they will agree that “Junk in equals junk out!” the same with the human body. If we learn sloppy habits trying to perform a task that is too far outside of our current abilities then we will merely create faulty and sloppy movement patterns to try and replicate the the task.

Exercise must be taught in progression, especially in core training. You would not see a tennis pro teaching an overhead serve in the first lesson to a true novice would you? Their brain would be scrambled! They might simply start with which grip to use and what the white lines on the court mean, right?

I came across this system that rates speech tasks in order of complexity from www.unl.edu;

“A Continuum of Linguistically Simple to Complex Speech Tasks.

(The CALMS Rating is the number to the right of the category if a high frequency of
stuttering appears at that level of linguistic complexity)

A. Automatic Speech: (5)
1. Count from 1-10
2. Say the days of the week.

B. Short Phrases: (5)
(Ask the child to repeat the phrase from a model or read the phrase)
1. “It’s a nice day.”
2. “I see a dog and a cat.”
3. “Sam bought Bobby a puppy for his birthday.”

C. Picture Description: (4) Show the child a picture that depicts some type of action and say to
the child, “Tell what’s going on in this picture.”

D. Picture Sequence: (4) Show the child a series of pictures from a script. Tell the story and
then with the pictures in front of the child, have the child retell the story he/she just
heard.

E. Ego-Centered Topic Discussion: (3) Have the child talk about his/her most recent birthday
party or a vacation/event he/she experienced personally.

F. De-Centered Topic Discussion: (2) Ask the child to describe in detail the content of a
familiar movie or a television show they have seen or a game (e.g., board or video
games) he/she has played recently.

G. Relational Topic Discussion: (1) In this task, ask the child to describe how one plays a
particular sport or activity that the child his familiar with. The clinician could say for
example, “Let’s say that I have never seen a (football, basketball, baseball, soccer) game.
Explain to me the object of the game, things about the game, how teams score points and
how a team wins or loses.”

H. Complex Oral Discourse: (1) Pick a topic the child would not have very much knowledge
of but has experienced in the real world (e.g., different types of clouds or how are clouds
formed- www.wildwildweather.com). Read a short explanation of the phenomenon and
then have the child retell the information they just heard.”

Correlate that to core training…the first task may be to have a client or athlete learn how to find a neutral position in their lumbo-pelvic hip complex (LPHC) and then perform the drawing in maneuver correctly, which most people struggle with due to muscular imbalances and years of sitting. Next exercises like floor bridges to have clients/athletes keep neutral in their LPHC while they use their glutes to move their hip joint.

Maybe I progress to a challenge in a different plane of motion with a “side ios-abs”…

Then maybe get fancy with a balance toy if you MUST use one, perhaps holding a push up position on BOSU ball…

These progressions take weeks for most people to get through if not 2 months or more at times!

Where would you put standing on a stability ball? Even better using your adductors like vice grips to stand on a stability ball? If we use the system I shared above, that would be more like letter “T” or so…

I might not have been much help today, perhaps just more of a rant, but take your time and progress your clients/athletes/yourselves slowly…ask your self, what will happen if they/I do an exercise with poor form for 20 years? Will my cartilage or disks be better off? or worse off? If you are not sure, then ask a corrective exercise specialist for an integrated assessment and an individualized program to help you out.

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• March 18, 2009 -- "Orthopedic Surgeons and Shoulder Injuries: Can the Rotator Cuff be Saved with Corrective Exercise and Improved Tennis Technique?" (0)
• March 6, 2009 -- Advil for Back Pain, Tennis Elbow or a Rotator Cuff Injury? (0)
• March 23, 2009 -- Shoulder Injuries Waiting to Happen; Corrective Exercise vs. Rehabilitation (0)
• March 9, 2009 -- Don’t Get Too Big With the Big Picture…Sometimes We Miss Small, but Important things When it Comes to Corrective Exercise" (0)
• November 18, 2008 -- The Kinetic Chain (0)

What about an integrated assessment by a corrective exercise specialist to find the root of the problem?

Ask.com says;

“Treatment involves resting the shoulder and avoiding activities that cause pain. Ice packs applied to the shoulder and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs will help reduce inflammation and pain.

Physical therapy to strengthen the muscles of the rotator cuff should be started. If the pain persists or if therapy is not possible because of severe pain, a steroid injection may reduce pain and inflammation enough to allow effective therapy.

If the rotator cuff has sustained a complete tear, or if the symptoms persist despite conservative therapy, surgery may be necessary. Arthroscopic surgery can remove bone spurs and inflamed tissue around the shoulder.

Small tears can be treated with arthroscopic surgery. Newer techniques allow even large tears to be repaired arthroscopically, although some large tears require open surgery to repair the torn tendon.”

Sure this is just from a website, but this protocol is probably pretty standard treatment for rotator cuff tendinitis. This is a relatively common injury for tennis players, who make up a great deal of my practice.

Impingement is a fairly common injury as well…

…with significant tears of the rotator cuff being less frequent with my clientele.

What really needs to be addressed is the alignment and function of the thoracic spine and scapulae

These two areas seem to be omitted from many rehabilitation protocols. This is a shame b/c addressing the inflammation at the rotator cuff will help with the symptom, but rarely the cause. the same thing with biceps tendinitis that elicits anterior shoulder pain. The thoracic spine must rotate and the scapulae mus be lined up long before the rotator cuff is strengthened. This just leads to repeated dysfunction at the shoulder joint or elsewhere through the kinetic chain.

Remember to have a corrective exercise specialist perform an integrated assessment which in turn will help to create a program that promotes athletic longevity, injury prevention and enhanced athletic performance!

Have to turn in, have an awesome workshop to deliver in Pittssburg the next two days and I have to be up early!

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• April 19, 2011 -- Full Length DVD Content FREE Here! Corrective Exercise and More! (0)
• March 19, 2009 -- Tennis Players: It Doesn’t Matter "How You Slice It" Corrective Exercise Before a Problem is Better Than After One! (1)
• March 6, 2009 -- Advil for Back Pain, Tennis Elbow or a Rotator Cuff Injury? (0)
• March 18, 2009 -- "Orthopedic Surgeons and Shoulder Injuries: Can the Rotator Cuff be Saved with Corrective Exercise and Improved Tennis Technique?" (0)
• March 11, 2009 -- Is Maria Sharapova’s Shoulder Really Ready? Did Someone Perform an Integrated Assessment for Her and Prescribe Corrective Exercise for Her? (0)

The following is based on the old adage, “Little leopards become big leopards and big leopards kill.”

I am not talking about a pathological issue that requires surgical intervention. We are trying to prevent the leopard from getting out of it’s cage here…not trying to stuff it back it in.

1) Dysfunction with No Pain; You don’t know that it is there, kind of like a fire in small space where the smoke is contained and you can not hear the crackle of the fire, feel the heat from the fire, smell or see the smoke from the fire. There is damage being done, but you are probably not aware of it yet. Some effects are inhibition or weakening of muscles. This can impact coordination and how joints move. This may start to wear on cartilage, tendons or ligaments or strain other parts of the body other than where the dysfunction is. There is also an almost imperceptible drop in athletic performance (slower reaction times longer recovery times). This is often the result of a repetitive stress, old injuries that were never really cleaned up, poor posture or poor technique during sport or exercise. Some good old fashion corrective exercise and or manual therapy can do wonders here.

2) Dysfunction with Mild Pain; You can smell or see the smoke now. You know there is a problem, but often times people just try and work through it and hope it will go away. This might just be some tightness or soreness, maybe a twinge when you move a certain way. You may avoid certain exercises of shots in an attempt to stay away from the pain or discomfort. This might loosen up during your workout or match a bit, but it is there at the beginning of the workout or match and may even be present when you are not exercising or playing tennis or any other sport. This is a dangerous place to be. Athletes particularly can develop a high threshold to pain. Ignoring this or trying to work through or around it will lead to further dysfunction and problems in other parts of the body. an example of this is tightness in an ankle that can lead to shoulder pain in tennis players and throwing athletes. Remember, don’t just stretch generally or get a massage because it feels good, try and find out where the source of the problem is. Don’t treat just the symptom and expect the problem to simply go away.

3) Dysfunction with Moderate Pain; You can see and feel the fire. There is no ignoring it. You are at the point where you are missing workouts, practices, matches, games or races. If it’s the US Open, and you were Andrea Agassi making one last valiant effort, then push through the pain, give it your all and pick up the pieces when you are done. I am competitive, I understand drive and it can be used as a strength….I do not however, especially with young athletes early in their careers, recommend sacrificing more pain and dysfunction down the line for short term results. That is sure fire way to burn someone out and shorten their athletic career. Take some time off, get some help, find the problem (not the symptom), treat it with corrective exercise, manual therapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, physical therapy, osteopathic medicine, traditional medicine, whatever needs to be done. You will need to put a significant number of hours into your self care here to restore function and then keep up a portion of this work to maintain it over the years.

4) Dysfunction with Sever Pain; The fire has chased you from your house. The heat was too much, the smoke made it difficult to breathe, you had to leave. You have no choice in the matter. You are on the shelf, on the disabled list, you can not exercise, play or train. Unwanted time off, one of the athlete’s worst fears. It will take a while to clean up the symptoms and burrow down to the source and clean that up. Physical therapy, corrective exercise and more are warranted by now. Find a licensed health care practitioner and/or corrective exercise specialist who is licensed to perform manual therapy and dig it!

5) Surgery: Your house has burned down…surgery is performed, hopefully it is to address the source of the problem, not the symptom. I would be very selective about which orthopedic surgeon I let cut me open and would have multiple conversations with multiple physicians, physical therapists, chiropractors, osteopaths etc. to make sure I found the best match for me. You will be in the hands of licensed professional for a while as you complete your rehabilitation, corrective exercise and manual therapy. Make sure you are working with people who look at the body as a whole. Knee injuries are often caused by mobility issues at the ankle and stability issue at the hip and low back. A global approach should be taken, not just looking at the joint that was repaired. A long road awaits, but you can climb back to form in most cases. Your body will never be the same, but your performance can still reach new levels in many cases if the hard work and dedication is there.

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard

Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist

Corrective Exercise Specialist

theericbeard.blogspot.com

www.ericbeard.com

• February 26, 2009 -- My Knees Hurt, What Should I Do? Corrective Exercise of Course! (0)
• November 24, 2008 -- Never Do This Exercise if You Want Healthy Shoulders, Especially If You Are A Tennis Player (0)
• March 16, 2009 -- What’s Wrong With This Core Training Picture? A Corrective Exercise Specialist Knows (0)
• April 6, 2009 -- Got Rhythm? Scapulohumeral Rhythm? If Not Your Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Joint Will Pay, Often With Impingement (1)
• March 19, 2009 -- Tennis Players: It Doesn’t Matter "How You Slice It" Corrective Exercise Before a Problem is Better Than After One! (1)

That might sound a bit inflammatory since we have been telling people for years not to stretch “cold”. When we look at the research around this topic, we may not want to spend 5-10 minutes of time doing cardio before we stretch…some of this information has adapted the Corrective Exercise Specialist Static Stretching text from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). I have expanded on it and added in some of my own personality to it. When I am delivering workshops for NASM to health, fitness performance professionals, corrective exercise specialist and coaches, this topic usually comes up.

It is typically suggested that a client should “warm-up” before you stretch. 1,14 This is supposedly to increase the temperature of the tissue which will make it easier to lengthen the targeted muscles. .1 However, supportive evidence is not very conclusive and much of it has been done passively on animals and at unrealistic temperatures.1,14,16,34 Research has shown that both ice and heat can each improve ROM respectively35 as well as when applied collectively.36

Moreover,recent research has shown that that both passive and active warm-up prior to
stretching does not significantly increase the effects of stretching alone16,36 and
may not have a major impact on the viscosity (resistance to stretch) of tissue as is believed.34

In a recent study, Magnusson and colleagues34 observed that though a warm-up consisting of 10 minutes of running at 70 percent of VO2 max did in fact elevate tissue temperature, it did not change the tissue’s viscoelastic properties. In this study how ever the subjects performed four 90 second static stretches. This begs the questions, was it the warm up or the increased time under tension that increased range of motion? .34

Five stretches for 90-seconds each is not a realistic for most athletes, be they recreational or elite and three sets of 45 second hold static stretches, the results were not as favorable. 13

So the question is what do you do before you stretch to make stretching more effective??? Here is a hint…

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• January 29, 2009 -- Static Stretching for Tennis Performance (0)
• January 8, 2009 -- What is the Number One Muscle to Stretch to keep Your Low Back Healthy? (0)
• January 8, 2009 -- What is the Number One Muscle to Stretch to keep Your Low Back Healthy? (0)
• April 6, 2009 -- Throwing Athletes, Don’t Throw Your Rotator Cuff Away! Please do Corrective Exercise (0)
• May 17, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise Specialist Case Study- Ankle Impairment (0)

The kids were appreciative and hard working. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I look forward to sharing more about this experience with you over the next few days! I have to get some sleep b/c I am teaching a Corrective Exercise Specialist workshop in Washington, DC over the next 2 days.

Above is a picture of the kids and the foam rollers we gave the for myofascial release!

Thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• December 1, 2009 -- Corrective Exercise Specialist Abroad for Tennis: To China and Back! (0)
• February 19, 2010 -- Upper Extremity Reach Range of Motion Assessments (0)
• April 19, 2011 -- Full Length DVD Content FREE Here! Corrective Exercise and More! (0)
• August 28, 2010 -- Did Steve Strasburg have the G.I.R.D. and Could His Injury Have Been Prevented? (2)
• November 1, 2008 -- Good to be Home (0)

• January 21, 2009 -- The Inferior Capsule Should Not Be at the Bottom of Your List (0)
• January 20, 2009 -- Shoulder Health For Tennis Players and Overhead Athletes (0)
• January 20, 2009 -- Shoulder Health For Tennis Players and Overhead Athletes (0)
• January 18, 2009 -- Snow Tennis Anyone? (0)
• January 4, 2009 -- Wii Related Lateral Epicondylitis or Tennis Elbow (0)

• January 21, 2009 -- The Inferior Capsule Should Not Be at the Bottom of Your List (0)
• January 20, 2009 -- Shoulder Health For Tennis Players and Overhead Athletes (0)
• January 20, 2009 -- Shoulder Health For Tennis Players and Overhead Athletes (0)
• January 18, 2009 -- Snow Tennis Anyone? (0)
• January 4, 2009 -- Wii Related Lateral Epicondylitis or Tennis Elbow (0)